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Bugs Under a Lense
Scary Jungle Though the way is barred with vines, they are passable, with effort, leading eventually to the Scary Jungle. Illumination is hard to come by in this place, the vegetation acting as a natural barrier to the sunlight. Its canopy looms overheard, letting a limited amount of light streams in to light the way. Further into the jungle, light is almost completely unavailable except for clusters of crystals spotted here and there. Immediately after entering the area, a cleared path that's been stomped down by Cybertronian feet leads to an underground entrance. Some dated and obviously weathered machinery still resides outside its entrance. The tunnel is caved in though, with little to no chance of clearing it out. Last time on ... The TRANSFORMERS!! Jetfire, Kup, Highbrow, and Chromedome ascertain minor details on the ancient data-pad's contents. Most notably, a location in space. But not just -any- location, but the discovery of an automated Energon Refinery hidden on a planet in the Lygian system! With their backs pinned against the wall for resources, they departed for the Lygian system ... and the planet Coludarr! Only one island on this Primus forsaken planet, it's magnetic fields and turbulent storms make flight impossible! Some other stuff happened I'm sure, but that's unimportant to this episode. The scene opens with Chromedome, resident nerd and Headmaster hacker, stopped before a nasty trail of vines. The ancient data-pad in hand, he nervously taps his foot and grows impatient of the physical deterrent before them. "Warpath, it's come to my conclusion that your obvious talent for ... forging ahead might be needed for our current dilemmia. Could you lend a hand, or in this case a tread?" he asks the tankbot, turning around with a cool calm look in his optics. "WHAM, sure, I'll do some CRACK, bushwhackin' for ya!" Warpath states gleefully. He transforms to his tank mode and chews up shrubbery under his treads, leaving a coarse but navigable path. Any large trees that get in his way simply get blasted into dust. Knocking them over would leave too much of an obstruction. Warpath folds down into his awesome tank mode. Swift had, some how, managed to get himself onto the planet as well, having hooked up with the other Autobots there. Being that he was much smaller than the rest of the bots, he wouldn't have had too many issues with actually getting through the various impediments before them. However, given that Warpath is clearing a path as it is, the cassette bot keeps back and away from the destruction. With a smaller size means that the shots are just that much bigger on him. "So... we're looking for a Refinery out here?" Swift asks, looking around some from his vantage point on the ground. Whirl transforms into his crazy 'copter mode. VH-64 Gazette hovers along above the other Autobots, high enough so that the wash from his spinning rotors won't bother them. He's slowly rotating this way and that to point in different directions. And finishing up a running conversation (possibly with himself). "...and /THAT/ is why I always shoot Claktans wearing white on sight." "Clarification Swift, we're looking for -anything- out here. But your initial analysis was correct, our ultimate goal in this endeavor is to locate the Energon Refinery described in this.." Chromedome replies, pausing to hold out the old relic. It's still undecided whos older though, the data-pad or Kup. "Then proceed to ransack said energon warehouse." Craning his neck up, the Headmaster notes Whirl flying unusually high for the planet's wacky Science defying weather patterns. "Wrecker Whirl, I might suggest one does not venture any higher in altitude at this point in time. In fact, I would prescribe that you either drop altitude or walk along with us. The essence of surprise is still valuable to Command on this discretionary matter." Once Warpath clears the path, Chromedome ventures forth into the dark jungle... VH-64 Gazette hovers down a bit, transforms and drops like a rock the remainder of the way to the ground, landing with a collasal CLANG behind Warpath. "Well sure," he remarks, straightening up as if nothing happened. "If you say so. But it's just 'Whirl' when we're outside of a fight." Whirl transforms into his reckless robot mode. Red Tank keeps on pushing through the jungle. A few vines get draped over him as he advances, and a thorn or two lightly scratches his paint. Nothing serious. "So, ZOOM, how much farther?" he wonders, "Want me to speed up?" Swift nods, looking at the data-pad. He thinks Kup might be old, but only by a few centries. "Anything other than dense jungle and ourselves, I do hop. I mean, otherwise consider the mission a success," The rabbot said, following after Warpath and the Headmaster. "I could try to scout ahead some myself if needed too." "On the contrary Minibot Warpath, I'd advise slowing down as to not trample any possible evidence. But keep on your present course and bearing." Chromedome replies in that flat nerd voice, all he's missing is the pocket protector. Switching on his thermal imaging, thanks to Stylor, the Headmaster attempts to lead the pack into the underbrush. "Please Autobots, keep a track on my signature as light appears to be very scarce in these wooded areas." he notes, tucking the data-pad away in subspace to use the extra arm in pushing down vegetation. "You do propose an interesting solution Cassette Swift." Whirl creeps along close behind Chromedome, swinging the bulky module on his hand this way and that to cover shadows and slight movements in the trees. "Is this classified as an 'Intel' operation? Because I've always wanted to do some time in the Intel division." He tries to peer over the Headmastor's shoulder. "Any ideas what this energon refinery will look like? Or is it one of those things that we'll know when we see it?" Swift idly wonders if Chromedome got picked on a lot when he was a younger bot. The cassette does pick up his pace some, in part to keep up with the others, but as well as to eventually try to get by and ahead of them some. "Well, that is kind of my purpose. To scout ahead and analyze what I see for others. Plus, with my size, I could be overlooked by bigger things. But then again... that does also make me a more tempting target for bigger things to try and eat me." "Roger and ZAM, gotcha!" the Red Tank replies. He slows down to half the speed he was at previously, and the underbrush and sticks crackle under his slowly moving tank treads. "Now all we need is some BOOM, Decepticons to shoot out of the air." Chromedome nods. "I must concur, the possibility of another larger being digesting you does not sound particulary pleasant. No, not at all." Chromedome asides to Swift, some small chuckle of enjoyment from something that's not all that funny. Really, it's not funny at all. "Minibot Warpath, please cease your heading and double back. I think I've found something..." he somewhat shouts, bending down to brush away some debris from what looks like a hole. "Wrecker Whirl, I've no idea just what the facility will look like. As for this being an Intelligence Division matter, I'm afraid you're wrong on that front as well. This is an -Autobot- matter, encompassing any and all available and cross referencable abilities that would help aid in the dilemmia." Cutting the babble for now, the Headmaster pauses in his search. "Illumination please." The Red Tank's treads screech to a noisy halt, and he backs up a bit before spinning around and heading back the way he came. "Oooh, ZOWIE, what is it?" he asks. Swift goes over to the hole, looking down it some himself. "It doesn't look like a rabbit hole..." He says. The cassette bot does start to put his head down into it at the same time. "Though seems more cave like than anything. And I dunno if we can go through it. Might make too much noise trying to." Swift says. Whirl's weapons module projects a faint, purplish glow. He pans this around the edges of the cave, then into the hole itself. "What's wrong with making a little noise? I'm lousy at keeping secrets anyway..." "I'm afraid your preliminary statement might be correct Cassette Swift, we dare not cause too much of a ... for lack of a better term, ruckus." Chromedome replies, standing up. "Besides, my projections put the amount of labor in clearing that cave-in would be substantially less than finding the facility on our own accord." Looking to the busted up machinery, his head tilts. "Wrecker Whirl, see if you can't ascertain any information out of that less than operative machinery." Whirl flicks off his light and then goes to look over the machinery. "Well, it's old." He leans closer and then peers at something on the top, then leans over to peer at the sides and even tries to look between the machines and the walls. Red Tank transforms and peers what Chromedome has found. "Well, can we BLAM, do anything with this stuff?" he wonders, "Or do you need me to ZOW, do some blasting?" He rubs the back of his head. The tank splits down the middle, then rises up. The treads separate into legs and arms pop out of the sides. The head comes out of the top of the tank. It's Warpath! Swift walks over to the machines himself, looking at them, just trying to see, mostly, if there was a way to turn the machines on from where he could see. The cassette doubted that there would be really. Picking himself up, the Headmaster transforms into his altmode to allow Stylor a closer look at this machinery. Flipping off the robot's shoulders, the Nebulon component lands on the ground with a *THUD* and looks around. "Boy, sure is dark around here. You emobots crying in the dark or something?" he laughs, patting Swift on the back. <> Chromedome emits, little lights playing back and forth on his front end like Knight Rider. "Do you always have to be so serious, Mr. Genius. Gah, take a joke. Now what's this about machinery?" Chromedome transforms into a Cybertronian Sports Car, his head becoming Stylor! Swift would smile if his face was built to allow such. "Nope. No emobots here. I mean, I'm sure we would have heard them moaning by now as well." The rabbot said, looking over at the headmaster. This is the first time he's seen Stylor in person really. "The machinery looks like it could use a jumpstart perhaps, or at least something to get it going. Maybe repairs. It looks old." Swift said as he poked the machinery with a paw. "Well POW, if it's old, is it about ready to fall apart?" Warpath wants to know. He paces around, looking over everything. Entirely too itchy to have an excuse to blow slag up. <> Chromedome peeps in from across the way. "Gah, cut it with the 'all buisness' act Chromedome! I've seen you drink before, hell ... it passed through my body to get to yours! Gosh, the tenacity of some pencil pushers." Stylor flips out, before regaining his composure. "Okay, now if -only- one of you crummy Autobots could fix this stuff. Apparently all my partner is good at is backseat driving and rambling about his doo-hickies." Speaking of emo-bots.... well, no, he's not gotten THAT bad. Just a little sullen after what happened the last couple of times he's been 'in charge' of a field operation. But the prospect of getting back to exploring the strange planet has seemed to perked Jetfire up a bit again. Or at the very least he's focusing on that and keeping the other troubles to himself. "Erf," grunts the air guardian as he pushes a couple of branches out of the way, only to have to swat at some vines to keep from getting caught up as they fall off. "This place was definately not cultivated with big bots like me in mind...." Speak of the devil, eh Stylor? Whirl shrugs. "I can try fixing it. But I'm usually better at taking 'em apart." Swift perks up a bit, looking over at the much larger Jetfire. "I don't think most places are cultivated with big bots in mind at all. I mean, you realize how big the trees would have to be to even support a big bot? Or even how much space between them would be needed?" Swift continues on the tanget for a bit longer, the machinery forgotten for now. Warpath groans lightly in disappointment. He so very much would have loved to be told that the machinery here or some part of the structure needed blowing up due to instability or irreparability. "Are we supposed to, ZIP, lay low so we don't attract attention?" <> Chromedome emits in Turbo-Car mode, while Stylor has a mental breakdown by the busted up machinery. "You know what, screw this noise. Jetfire, now that you're here ... Mr. Genius over here can resume spouting all nerdspeak like and I can go back to focusing on what's really important. Me." Stylor rasps off, before dashing to transform with Chromedome. "It appears apologies are in order again, please excuse my partner's tenacity and lack of patience. He has 'little man' syndrome." Chromedome offers, walking up to Jetfire and offering a hand to shake. "We could use your skill here, Jetfire." The Cybertronian Sports Car transforms, Stylor changing into Chromedome's blocky head! Jetfire laughs softly at Swift's rambling. "I spent several weeks the size of a Minibot, I know all too well." Picks some more foliage out of his shoulder joint while shaking with Chromedome with the other hand. "It's okay, I was.. preoccupied. Best the exploration move ahead instead of waiting for me to deal with all the other projects I keep getting thrown at me." But pleasantries are quickly over with and curiousity taking over as Jetfire leans a bit to the side (entirely out of habit, it's not like he -needs- to) to look over the headmaster's shoulder at what Stylor was poking at. "Just what did you find now?" Whirl backs away from the old machinery, hiding a set of primative and somehow brutal looking tools behind his back. "Uh, this machinery right here," he explains. "We're trying to see if we can learn anything about it. Or reactivate it." Pause. "Or if it turns out it's dangerous and needs to be blown to bits." He nudges Warpath who he ends up standing next to. "Right?" Swift's mind is quickly brought back to the task at hand, going back and poking the machine with a paw again, "Some kind of ancient machinery. Maybe it holds the location of some special area... or can lead us to somewhere fun or with some kind of anti-decepticon weapon!" Warpath is nudged! "Right!" he agrees. "As they so eloquently stated, we've come across some busted up machinery. It's purpose, or so I ascertain, is a underground railway communication relay systems. In short, it makes sure no transports collide on conflicting trips of opposite directions." Chromedome huffs, long winded as usual. "It's destination is unclear, but another hypothosis of mine is it leads straight to the Energon Refinery. Given the dilapidated state of the mine itself, we could attempt to extract said information and coordinates from it's drives?" "Sounds interesting," Warpath says, "But what can ZOP, I do? You sure you don't need anything POW, blown up? Since no Decepticons decided to drop by." Swift goes over to Warpath, smiling and patting his leg a bit, "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get to blow something up soon." Jetfire listens to Chromedome as he explains, nodding his head a bit. "Much of the facility was meant to be mostly if not all automated, according to what we've been able to steadily recover from the datapad. The beach clearing was likely meant to be a landing point, so sending the shipments out there... not that they got that far in building it would seem. But lets take a look, shall we?" Jetfire kneels down to do just that and examine the device more closely. "We've already run into Decepticons out here, somehow. And I'm unwilling to consider Motormaster's 'luck' coincidental," he comments over his shoulder to the others. "That, and there's the entire possibility of hostile life out here, somewhere. Exploration missions don't -just- disappear...." As if cued by Jetfire's words alone, a noisy racket is heard farther up in the jungle. At first it sounds like maybe four small lifeforms scurrying around, but closer inspection reveals it's much much more than that. A pitched scream of something is heard, then the sound of two large rough objects chafing and clacking off eachother. Then all hell breaks loose. From deep within the jungle, the sound of a thousand 'insects' all rushing towards them at once is heard. All the while, a high pitched and shrill 'war cry' comes out from them. Any and all gumbies that were following the Autobots up until this point from the back, turn around immediately and make a break for it. Nothing can be seen as of yet, but the incoming sound of tiny legs scurrying around and the high nasal pitched screams do little to comfort them. "Oh WOW, is that something I can BLAM, blow up?" Warpath says, once he sees and hears the horde of creepy crawlies headed his way. "Do we ZOOM, run, or BANG, stay and fight?" Chromedome's head swivels around at once, noting the location of several of the screams and backs away coyly. "Autobots, I know I might be making a statement of obvious discernment ... but it appears we aren't alone in this area." Drawing both photon blasters from his hips, the Headmaster aims both at the front of the 'fray' and looks to Jetfire. "Commander, your input at this juncture would not only be reassuring for our loyal troops ... but quite beneficial to the situation at hand." Whirl shouts, "Quick, I'll give 'em the universal greeting!..." He looks to one side and then the other. "Slaggit, I'm drawing a blank here. Oh well, let's just light 'em up!" Transforming back into his 'copter mode, Whirl lifts off and then turns to point his weaponry in the direction of the incoming horde. Whirl transforms into his crazy 'copter mode. Swift presses low to the ground, ears laying flat against his back now as he prepares for the combat to come, if any at all that is. He primes his weapons, rockets ready to fire, as well as a few weak lasers. Where's Kup when you really need him for first contact? Jetfire was practically in 'geek zone' as he was examining the delapitated device, and never heard the skittering noises. The other Autobots getting edgy and Chromedome's nudging get him to look back up though, blinking for a moment. "... I need to be more careful what I saw," he rumbles in minor annoyance. "Whirl's got the right idea. Find out who or -what- that is first... then worry about if you have to shoot it or not. An informed soldier is a well-armed one." With that small nugget of advice he turns back to the device and hunkers down as much as his big form can, both to be a less obvious target (other than being bright white and red!) and to protect it as well. "This is about the same age as the datapad and the signal beacon we found on the beach... I've been doing some research into what little info I can find about that era's technology," thus his delayed arrival, prehaps? "I think I can get to the memory modules... less forcefully this time. But if whatever that noise was -is- hostile, I'm going to need cover to work...." Combat: Jetfire sets his defense level to Protected. The noise only grows louder, each passing moment bringing another ocatave more of the shrill cry from the hostile life forms. Although, their first sighting wouldn't be at the front, oh no. The Autobot gumbies who broke rank and ran, suddenly and literally get enveloped by thirty of the small creatures. Six tiny legs lead to a larger carapace, back end with a stinger dripping deadly and noxious acid. Front end housing a smaller ant-like head, with two oversized pinchers that clack together in anticipation. They are inbetween a cassette and minibot, slightly smaller than Bumblebee or Cliffjumper. The gumbies didn't stand a chance, the 'Skitters' quickly rushed them and proceeded to tear into their ranks like a pack of wolves at a slaughter. Parts go flying everywhere in the feeding frenzy, a head *THUNKS* next to Swift in the process. Welcome to Coludarr. Skitter Horde has arrived. From above the others, Whirl curses and complains bitterly. "I TOLD them to stop giving the support troops those all-red paintjobs!!" Then he unleashes a barrage of minigun shells from the a drum-shaped chin turret. "You wanna eat something, eat this!" Combat: VH-64 Gazette misses Skitter Horde with his Pistol attack! Once Warpath sees the carnage caused by the Skitter Horde, he collapses back into tank mode and starts firing. "BAZOOM! KRA-KOW! Time to blow scrap up, YEAH!" Combat: Warpath strikes Skitter Horde with his Laser attack! Swift doesn't flinch from the head landing between him and Warpath. No, this isn't anything new really. Well, not much new at the least. The Skitter Horde, though, does command his attention. "I think I'm in agreement with you here, Warpath. They aren't 'Cons, but they are about just as friendly to us now!" The cassette said, firing off his own lasers for now at the horde. Combat: Swift misses Skitter Horde with his Laser attack! Chromedome shys away from the forefront and tremendous noise coming from it. "Initial analysis, Jetfire. Our probable odds of coming out of this encounter, unscathed and succesful ... are sixteen point one nine repeating." the Headmaster states rather seriously, still backing away. Upon the screams of the gumbies, he turns around and fires off a shot at the collection of Skitters. "Re-evaluating odds, given new number hypothosis, physical prowess displayed, and visual confirmation. Nine point one three nine repeating." Combat: Chromedome misses Skitter Horde with his Photon Pistol! (Laser) attack! Jetfire comments briefly over his shoulder "A specimen sample of the local wildlife would be really great, but not a necessity to the mission," before turning back to his work. After brushing a bit of someone's armor off his shoulder. Not that he ignored the scattering of gumbie parts, but rather more that he is focused on his work. He's got to be delicate removing the outer access panel after all, this thing is old and could potentially fall apart at the wrong jostle. Once that's done he gets to work as quickly as possible as he can without risking damage due to rush, pulling a diagnostic relay out of subspace and sticking the probe into the opening to scan inside and find where the module actually is in the mechanical layout, first and foremost. ".. Now I see why people keep telling me not to tell them the odds," he retorts somewhat sardonically to Chromedome. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Jetfire has 'skipped' his action for this round. The horde of Skitters ignore most of the attacks against them, swarming and colluding into a giant phalanx of bugs ... rushing headlong agaisnt the Autobots. Warpath's volley takes out an appropriate amount of the Skitters, but for every one he fells ... three swarm in to take their place. Using the dead bodies of some, the Skitters tear into their armored shell to reveal their life blood ... ACID! Hurling some of their fallen 'comrades' up at Whirl, the others dash forward to swarm the tank and cassette. The ones from the 'rear' scurry towards Chromedome, biting forward with large pinchers. Combat: Chromedome misses Red Tank with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: Chromedome misses Swift with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: Chromedome misses VH-64 Gazette with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: Chromedome misses himself with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! The Red Tank whoops and hollers as he continues to fire at the advancing horde, though he backs up himself to prevent them from taking him apart. "ZAP, keep away, ya little monsters!" he shouts as he tries a disruptor spread. Warpath folds down into his awesome tank mode. Combat: Red Tank strikes Skitter Horde with his Disruptor attack! VH-64 Gazette tilts forward and then surges towards the horde, as if he's going to slam into their midst in some sort of suicidal charge. He begins to emit the transforming sound...but there's something off about it. And Whirl's form doesn't change. In fact, he pulls up to hover above the bugs, still in helicopter mode. And still emitting the sound. Until it dissolves into a chuckle. "CHAK-CHAK-CHK-CHK-CHAK hehheh. Nah, just kidding. I'm not getting near those things. I'd rather just blast 'em away from up here." As they seem immune to his lighter weaponry, Whirl next unleashes a torrent of high-energy photons. Combat: VH-64 Gazette misses Skitter Horde with his Photon Beam attack! "Duly noted Jetfire, and apologies ... it's a habit." Chromedome replies, jumping backwards to avoid a volley of bugs intent on tearing into him and his Headmaster component. "Troops, I suggest we fall back momentarily. Provide cover fire for Jetfire, so he can complete the task at hand." Hefting both of the Blaster Rifles, the Autobot hacker unleashes a devastating spray of plasma blasts at the back of the fray. Before they can collude and encircle them completely. Combat: Chromedome sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Chromedome strikes Skitter Horde with his Dual Lasers attack! -1 Swift began to back up after his shot missed, quickly turning and jumping out of the way as the Skitters tried to swarm over him. They fail rather spectacularlly, and Swift moves around and looks at them for a bit, guarding himself carefully from any further attacks. He focuses his sensors on the horde, scanning them over, trying to find some way to strike them with a bit more punch. "Come on now..." he says. Combat: Swift sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Swift analyzes Skitter Horde for weaknesses. Tossed debris scatters all over the place, only by some miracle does nothing do worse than bounce off Jetfire's backside, putting dents in his booster pack but otherwise no severe harm. ".. Ah, there you are." He pulls the probe out, looking up to take stock of the situation behind him briefly. "Tactically I suggest wide disperal attacks if you have them. Anything that can hit many of them at once instead of specifically. Explosive or concussive shockwaves would be best." Then turns to the device again. "Just give me a little longer." The tips of a couple fingers retract, extending his micro-work tools from them, with which he reachs into the device to remove a few parts so ancient they wouldn't work anyways, then more carefully takes to removing the connections to the module itself. It's like technological brain surgery, more or less. "If I can safely remove this now, we can analyze it back at the ship -away- from being eaten by minature Insecticons in the process." The quick succession of attacks drives the Skitters back, but they're limited intelligence won't alloy for too much fear. For again, they launch themselves at their adversaries with little or no care for personal injury sustained by such actions. Although simple minded creatures, their sense allow them to pinpoint and attack at precarious energon locations and bite away at the Autobot's armor. One even manages to get past Chromedome and at Jetfire!! Far back in the fray, lies the 'leader' of the pack. Larger than the simple drone, he's also bright red in coloration with an oversized pair of pinchers. Raking and dragging them together, it makes a loud *SKKKKKKKKRRRRR* sound ... one to which they responded to. Combat: Chromedome strikes Swift with Skitter Horde's It's Eating Me Alive! Area attack! Combat: Chromedome strikes Red Tank with Skitter Horde's It's Eating Me Alive! Area attack! Combat: Chromedome strikes himself with Skitter Horde's It's Eating Me Alive! Area attack! Combat: Chromedome (Chromedome) used "It's Eating Me Alive!": A Level 1 AREA-MELEE attack. Combat: Chromedome misses Jetfire with Skitter Horde's It's Eating Me Alive! Area attack! Red Tank yows as some of the massing creatures start nibbling on his front end. "Hey, DOWN!" he shouts, peppering the horde with a spray of blasts. "No nibbling on the tank!" He rolls backward full steam, to try to put some space between himself and the creepycrawlies. Combat: Red Tank strikes Skitter Horde with his Git Offa My Fender! (Pistol) attack! Swift cried out as the skitters managed to actually jump him by surprised, tearing many holes into his armor and draining some of his energon, but mostly doing minimal structual damage for now. He manages to pull himself free of the skitters, turning around and using his data, along with Jetfire's suggestion, to use. "Lets see how much you guys like the taste of a little rocket!" He said, firing off the explosive from its container. Combat: Swift misses Skitter Horde with his Rocket attack! VH-64 Gazette seems to be having a lot of trouble hitting anything in that horde. Even though they seem to be a massive carpet of moving creatures. Holding himself absolutely steady to increase his chances, Whirl also descends a bit more, preparing to let them have it at point blank range. "Explosives, huh? I can do that." Combat: VH-64 Gazette sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: VH-64 Gazette misses Skitter Horde with his Incendiary Shell attack! Chromedome is stuck by one of the creatures, it eats into his midsection with little or no effort ... spilling precious energon to the ground. Acting like a pheromone, the substance draws almost all of the Skitters who've made it to their backside. A couple more bites before the Headmaster is able to separate from the 'pack'. One Skitter got by him, however the Autobot snatches it out of the air and flings it back at them. "Jetfire, I know my sentiment might not be required ... but haste is of the essence in this encounter." Transforming into alt-mode, Stylor jumps onto the backend of the Turbo-Car and mounts the turret. "Oh jeez, what have you idiots gotten yourselves into now? Perhaps with my STYLISH assistence, we'll live to see another day ... eh, Mr. Genius?" <> "You got it nerdbot!" Chromedome transforms into a Cybertronian Sports Car, his head becoming Stylor! Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car misses Skitter Horde with his Roof-Mounted Dual Lasers attack! Jetfire has been fighting in this war long enough to focus on his job without turning -all- of his attention away from a fight going on around him; that would be a foolish thing to do to leave yourself open while saving someone else's life, after all. "Just a few more connections..." Then one of the bug-things leaps past Chromedome and lands next to him. "I never did like Insecticons much, either." A massive (in comparison) foot attempts to stomp down on the bugs, or at least send them scattering away from bothering -him- while he's trying to finish up delicate operations here! Combat: Jetfire misses Skitter Horde with his You're bugs. And you know what you do to bugs... (Kick) attack! Red Tank starts to roll forward too, to try to squash some of the horde beneath his treads. Then he backs up again quickly. "These things are SMACK, persistent!" he announces. "How are the rest of you, POW, holding up?" Combat: Red Tank misses Skitter Horde with his RUN EM OVER! (Kick) attack! "Just another click or two!" Jetfire shouts back, not even bothering to check if he actually stomped on anything or not. In what seems like one last attempt to overrun the Autobots, the Skitter horde charges forward ... with full force no less. Skitters are literally, -everywhere-. At this point, it's impossible to discern them from the Planet's ground. A team of them attempt to tip over the tank, while another small contingent swarm on Swift. At the rear end of the engagement, the Skitters have climbed the foilage now ... using them as make-shift catapualts to launch themselves at Whirl. On the ground, Chromedome is facing down about one hundred of the little buggers alone. Perhaps desperate, they try to overwhelm them from every conceivable angle. Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car strikes VH-64 Gazette with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired VH-64 Gazette 's Agility. (Crippled) Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car strikes Red Tank with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Red Tank's Agility. (Crippled) Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car misses Jetfire with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car strikes himself with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car (Chromedome) used "They're Everywhere!": A Level 3 AREA-MELEE attack. Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Nebulon & Turbo-Car 's Agility. (Crippled) Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car strikes Swift with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Swift's Agility. (Crippled) Swift cried out as more and more skitters began to show up and start to pile on. The rabbit was starting to be overwhelemed by the attacks, tearing away at his armor and systems, preventing him from really move or do much of anything. They were too close now for a good clean shot with out hurting himself in the backblast, and he couldn't really get his weapons to point in the right directions, so... he just flailed, trying to shake them off and get them away from him. "Get off of me! I'm not food for you all! I'm just a rabbot!" Combat: Swift strikes Skitter Horde with his Flailing Rabbit (Ruckus) attack! VH-64 Gazette is overwhelmed by a pair of the bugbots, and the extra weight along with his own low altitude is enough to force him to the ground. Transforming quickly, Whirl begins flailing around with pincers and feet, trying to clobber anything that gets within striking distance! Whirl transforms into his reckless robot mode. Combat: Whirl misses Skitter Horde with his Ruckus attack! The Turbo-Car is soon surrounded by the little bugs, pinchers tearing away at all it's delicate custom parts and fender. Stylor can afterall, only shoot soo many before having to reload. "Hey, GENIUS! Try turning this into a demolition derby, or they're gonna be having one attractive and well kept Nebulon for breakfast!" Stylor shouts, punching one of the bugs off his shoulder in the meantime. <> Chromedome emits, lights blinking back and forth on the front bumper ala Knight Rider. Without another word though, the sometimes lengthy and wordy Headmaster revs the engine ... sending the Turbo-Car toward a group of the nasty bugs. Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car misses Skitter Horde with his Objects In Mirror... attack! "Easy there..." Jetfire leans a little to one side. "Just a little..." Wiggles his arm to the other side, trying to finess the very sensative part out of its socket and edging it from the device. "Eureka!" As the module pops out he jumps to his feet and holds it up triumphantly. "I've got it, I've got the module!" ... It takes a second or two for him to semi-comically notice the massive swarm of bugs bustling around his legs that were thrown off his back before they could bite in as he jumped up. "... And not an astro-second too soon, it would seem," he notes. Grunting a bit. The thought briefly passes through his core processor if these things are somehow related to the disappearance they were investigating. But there will be time for worrying about that later, -after- he's helped save his friends from being bug buffet. Tucking the device into a small padded storage unit specifically made for holding delicate components, he reverts his hand back to normal... Then reachs up over his shoulders to grasp each of the pylons of his booster pack as he leans forward a bit, bracing them. Hopefully it'll work right this time. He deploys the larger particle cannons out of them, takes a moment to brace himself and aim... and fire! Combat: Jetfire sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Jetfire misses Skitter Horde with his Particle-Beam Phalanx attack! BAM! BEAM SPAM!... that does more chopping through foliage and opening a bit hole in the canopy than actually hitting the bugs, but at least it didn't blow HIMSELF up this time! Red Tank retreats backwards even further, but only to build up a head of steam. He then lurches forward, making another attempt at making bugs go squish. Combat: Red Tank misses Skitter Horde with his mow you down (Punch) attack! From above, the loud dull hum of stardrive engines rumbling can be heard. Shortly afterwards a number of high powered spotlights shines down onto the ground, illuminating the skitter horde. "I've picked up your distress beacon..." The twin mortar artillery batteries rotates into positiong, the resounding thud of mortar shells being loaded, "Clearly the area, I'll try to create a perimeter for you all." Then the mortar shells begins raining down. Combat: Battlecruiser misses Skitter Horde with his Laser-Guided Mortars attack! -5 The large collection of bugs, native to this planet, don't even pause amid the confusion and attacks directed at them. The Skitters do stop their assault however, when one decidely larger foe presents himself to them. From the back of the large collection, the 'leader' clacks his pinchers together in a disturbing yet attractive fashion. Suddenly, the main assault is ... halted? The Skitters all fan out to the trees, using them as those make-shift catapaults AGAIN! Only this time, they have a -much- bigger target. Combat: Nebulon & Turbo-Car strikes Battlecruiser with Skitter Horde's They're Everywhere! attack! Swift, fortunately, manages to get a break as the skitters all start to attack the Autobot's sudden backup. Panting some, he rights himself, and gets into a more protected position, scanning the skitters some more and starting to feed the data out. First up, Jetfire. "Hope this helps out guys!" He calls out. Combat: Swift sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Swift analyzes Skitter Horde for weaknesses Jetfire can exploit. The Headmaster quickly transforms, looking skyward as mortar shells rain down from above. "Fortress Maximus, you recieved my signal!" Upon seeing his attack rendered pretty useless, and the bugs launch their best efforts at the big battle base ... Chromedome opens up a secure line between them both. "I'm sending you all the analysis I've collected in the field sir, as well as painting you approximately thirteen strike points on the treelines ... adjusted for the Planet's weather patterns and drift. Acknowledge." "Oh, and it's good to see you sir." The Cybertronian Sports Car transforms, Stylor changing into Chromedome's blocky head! Combat: Chromedome sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Chromedome takes extra time to assist Battlecruiser 's next attack. Red Tank doesn't get to crunch bugs beneath his tank treads. Sadface. So he rotates his turret, spins his treads, locks into position, and picks a likely spot to fire a conventional shell. "BOOM, BANG, take this, you vermin!" he announces, as he lets the heavy munition fly. Combat: Red Tank misses Skitter Horde with his Conventional Shells attack! Jetfire TOTALLY did that to open a way for Fort Max to see them on the ground .... Okay no but it's a good excuse none the less. Jetfire just cares more that they didn't blow up on him this time. "Impressive timing, big guy," he remarks to one of the few transformers he actually can say that too. "Mind helping us with a bit of exterminating?" Retracting the cannons back into his booster back, Jetfire pauses a moment at the data packet as it scrolls across his HUD, and gives the rabbit-bot a quick thumbs-up. "Thanks, Swift. Now, I think I'll take some of my own advice..." There's the click-a-clack of moving parts as he raises both his arms, the forearm 'braces' expanding out to extend a pair of proton missile launchers. Leaning back to brace on one leg Jetfire angles up a bit, taking aim towards the much larger, red, and thus likely more important and critical to damage if he's remembering Beachcomber's lectures on insect hive minds right.. and lets a pair of the missiles fly! Combat: Jetfire strikes Skitter Horde with his Proton Missiles attack! "Non-lethal shells aren't doing the trick against these creatures..." There is some noticible hesistation in Fortress Maximus' voice as he broadcasts through his external speakers. The large lumbering battlecruiser hovers for a moment as it considers its next course of action, but the insectoid skitter horde has other plans. It works too as the bugs launches themselves at the underbelly of Fortress Maximus, splattering and causing minor damage to his superstructure. "These things uses their own as tools of war? Perhaps they aren't sentient after all. If that's the case, this makes it much more easier." The large battlecruiser begins rapidly descending down towards the surface towards a large pile of skitter horde bugs, "Information upload received, excellent work Chromedome! I'm just glad I was able to make it in time when I did, Jetfire. Coming through." Soon Fortress Maximus' main body makes a landing... right above a good number of bugs. Combat: Battlecruiser sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Battlecruiser strikes Skitter Horde with his Ram attack! Skitter Horde falls to the ground, unconcious and all. Yeah. Skitter Horde has left. Whirl is still flailing and punching at everything in sight, before the shadow of Fortress Maximus suddenly falls over that portion of the horde. (and Whirl himself). Now pushing and shoving to get OUT of the area, Whirl barely manages to clear the area before getting squished as well. "Whew!" he remarks, dusting off his hands. "I didn't do a single thing, but I still feel a sense of accomplishment!" "Thank you sir, it was as Stylor says ... all in my operational interests of self presevation. Yes, it sounds much better when he states it." Chromedome replies, relaxing back now that the 'fight' is over. Far off in the distance, the small number of Skitters to make it out of the conflict intact have grouped around their leader. Dead bodies soon decompose on the battlefield, the noxious acidic blood eats away at their forms. Nothing is left of their presence, other than large spots of acid patches sizzling. Jetfire braces himself as the shockwave of Fort Max's landing rolls across the ground... Unintentional or not shooting down all those trees did help make room for that to happen, one supposes. Once the rumble is done he stands back up and swats bits of bug debris and scorched vegetation off of one arm, then the other. "I got the memory module out Whirl, so yes, accomplishment." Which he's feeling better about himself, too. "Thanks for the timely calvary arrival, Maximus." Watches as the bugs dissolve away into nothing as acid eats into the ground as they melt like ice cream on the pavement in summer. "So much for samples," he mutters, somewhat dejectedly. Swift pants a bit as he walks out of his own cover, looking rather beat up and armor torn. Still functional and able to go on, but certainly seen better times. At least the skitters weren't any one-two punch of Scorponok and Soundwave. He looks over at Jetfire, a bit astonished at the scientist. "You... you'd want samples of them?" Red Tank sighs in relief as finally, the little beasties are all dead and in various stages of melting down. "WOW, thanks!" he says, "Though I think we BOOM, coulda handled em..." "If anything we would be more prepared should we run into another swarm.. though I do wager the combat data in itself will be rather enlightening on that matter," Jetfire replies as he looks down to Swift when the rabbit hops over. Frowns when he sees he's been rather roughed up by the encounter. "Hold still a moment, Swift." He crouchs down, extending his heat torch from one wrist and welding shut some of the larger gaps in the small tape's exterior plating. "Wouldn't want any of that unknown toxin getting into your electronics." Combat: Jetfire quickly patches up some of Swift's minor injuries. The cracked earth around the area where Fortress Maximus had landed is a testiment as to just how tremendous the force of the impact was when the Headmaster leader had landed. "My pleasure, Jetfire. I'm glad to see that you and your crew are still in one piece. How can I lend you my assistance in your expedition?" Fortress Maximus' asks through his external speakers. For the moment, the battlecruiser remains at idle and unmoving. "Thanks Jetfire!" Swift said in response to the patch job. He wouldn't be in any real danger now, but he certainly would be in need of full repairs later to get his armor fully patched back up. It would do for now, though, and hopefully they won't run into any more hostiles. "So... now where to?" Chromedome turns to regard Jetfire, "Did you ascertain our missing Energon Refinery amongst that old machinery's systems?" Jetfire just smiles and gives Swift a pat on the head before pushing himself back to his feet. "Well, we don't want to stay here unless more of those come along, that's for sure... Sit tight if you can, Maximus. We may need a lift out if any more hostiles show up." At Chromedome's question he grins more as he pulls the padded container back out of storage. "We'll find out in a moment. I stuck an analyzer on the module before I tucked it away to help chase off our unwanted guests." He opens it, and pulls the small little probe off the component, then hands the rest to Chromedome. "Here, you may want to have a look at this for your own research later, Mr. Computer Expert." As for the analyzer, Jetfire takes out his normal datapad (you can tell, its the one made for his big hands) and plugs the chip into it, then flips it over to activate it. "If we're in luck, we'll have an actual map of some sort to go by instead of wandering blindly through this obviously hostile jungle.." Red Tank transforms and looks himself over. There's a few scratches, which cause him to groan, and some of that gunk from the skitter horde's demise. "I need a WOOSH, good cleaning pretty soon," he says. The tank splits down the middle, then rises up. The treads separate into legs and arms pop out of the sides. The head comes out of the top of the tank. It's Warpath! Whirl wanders back towards the machinery. "Well, that was fun," he remarks before peering at the machinery again. "A map, huh? Don't suppose it'll have the location of more of these bugs? Because I've got a few incendiary shells left..." "I'll keep the engines warmed up, Jetfire." The external speakers mounted outside of Fortress Maximus pauses briefly before continuing, "I noticed there was a particular shiny object from a patch of earth that was disturbed by my mortar shells. I think it's just roughly 5 meters to the northwest of Whirl's current position the last time I saw it when I was landing." The battlecruiser then reconfigures itself into its battle station configuration, "I was hoping to send Grommet out to investigate." Chromedome accepts the 'gift' in one hand, while turning his attention to the area indicated by Fortress Maximus. Transforming into alt-mode, Stylor lands on the hood and relaxes back. "Well why are we all laxadazin' here? We should check it out!" <> Chromedome states, before tearing off towards it. Chromedome transforms into a Cybertronian Sports Car, his head becoming Stylor! Whirl transforms into his crazy 'copter mode. VH-64 Gazette follows after, though he dutifully keeps low to the ground. And doesn't get too far ahead. Swift quickly goes to catch a ride on one of the others, as he can't really move nearly as fast as they can. Jetfire pokes at the screen for a moment, hmming. ".. Well, not the specific location of the refinery, as some of the data sectors appear to be damamged, but this does still have the intended routes for the transfer system, which would of led to its location as is, so it's certainly a step up from being lost and wander--Eh?" Jetfire snaps out of geek rambling as the other's point out something. "..Oh?.. Oh, yes, yes! Definately should investigate it farther." Tucking the datapad away for the moment he trots after the others, putting his extra long stride to good use. Note QUITE as fast as the actual vehicles, but he manages to stay close behind with a extra dash-jet oomph now and then from his leg veniers. Warpath retransforms and starts following along. He's not much for technical talk so he just starts thinking of a funny story to tell. Being first on the 'scene', Chromedome transforms and wades through some minor bush to find ... A GIANT LENSE?!?! "Jetfire, you need to see this immediately." he shouts into his broadband link, and for the resident robonerd to yell at -anything- ... is saying something. The Cybertronian Sports Car transforms, Stylor changing into Chromedome's blocky head! A Lense has been discovered! Jetfire catchs up with the others, leaning over to peer down at the spot the other tech has uncovered, and his optics widen. "... By Primus." "A giant lense? Uh... what's it do? Focus the energon into a refined form or something?" Swift said, blinking some. VH-64 Gazette says, "Didn't the Autobots find some other lenses a while back?" He rubs his chin in thought. "Hmm, what was the story there..." Battle Station begins activating his passive defensive systems, his radar and other early warning systems rotates into place as he sends out his remote drones to follow along with the rest of Autobots. Gasket and Grommet manages to catch up with the rest of the Autobots in time to catch Whirl's comments, and Fortress Maximus' voice comes through Grommet's speakers, "I recall the reports indicating that these lenses were capable of terrible power. Sufficient to tip the balance of our civil war if able to be reproduce even in small quantities. Why have we found one here?" "My sentiments exactly, Jetfire." Chromedome replies, daring a couple of steps closer to the object in question. Pulling out a data-pad, the Headmaster starts a myriad of tasks of copying down any and all important information. "I wonder, while currently occupied with this ardorous task ... could you explain it's signifigance to the others, Jetfire?" Swift didn't make any moves to the lense, sitting where he was and watching it for now, frowning a bit. "Yeah... at least we found it and not the Decepticons. If its that powerful... there's got to be something here to power it, right?" Swift said, looking up and around. Jetfire crouchs down for a closer look. ".. Yes, Whirl. And this appears to be one of the larger ones, too, buried under the ground. Curiouser and Curiouser..." He frowns a bit as scientific curiousity clashes with his better interests as a soldier. Finally he lets out a sigh. "We don't know, Maximus, but that's going to be another thing we need to find out. Before the Decepticons do. Because that analysis is quite right. We've witnessed everything from reality warping to being the power source to smaller versions that grant individual abilities beyond their normal to the posessers..." He pauses to doublecheck records for himself. "Slag, even just the shards of one were able to alter relative reality with mental influence, if the situtation Rodimus and others encountered on Torqulon is any indication. And we have no idea what -this- one may do." Jetfire frowns as he gets back to his feet. "We should cover this up so it's not easily found again, and report back home immeadiately. Regardless of the refinery issue, we can't allow -this- discovery to go unreported. Primus forbid what would happen if the Decepticons come back here and discover it." Jetfire pauses a moment, considering what Swift just said. "... And such an energy source -could- be what attracted the effort to build a refinery here." Autobot Message: 3/141 Posted Author Surprise Couldarr Discovery Tue Jul 27 Jetfire --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jetfire appears on-screen, sitting in the control center of the spacecraft being used as the base of operations for the Coularr exploration. The good news is that he's not looking so mopey anymore after having gotten out and done more SCIENCE. The bad news is he has his *the **** hit the fan* serious expression on instead. "This is really important and I have a lot to cover, so I'll keep this short and to the point. While farthering the exploration of Couldarr tonight Chromedome, Swift, Warpath, Whirl, myself, and Fortress Maximus after he arrived late to help us exterminate some local pest issues, came across a discovery of something even more important and dangerous than the hostile wildlife on this world. Uncovered by the firefight with the xeno-insectoid swarm was," he pauses a moment for a breath then continues, "A lense. Yes, one of those large alien ones, burried under the ground. Why or how it is there, I don't know, nor did it seem to be active at the moment. My best theory at the moment is that it was somehow active in the past though, and that's the energy source that drew an expedition there to harvest it originally, but again, that's just a theory. More importantly is that we need to do something about it as soon as possible. Decepticons have already been sighted poking around Couldarr and Primus forbid if THEY find it as well..." Jetfire pauses for a moment to recompose himself, and then continues. "Also, just before the firefight we found a directional relay post of similar age to the ancient datapad and the signal beacon on the beach. Despite the interruption I was able to remove its memory module and download some information from it. Not the exact location of the refinery, but the relay was for a material transportation system between it and the opening at the beachfront, so now we have acertained a specific direction to guide the rest of this trip and hopefully get some answers on both matters." "I guess that's it for now. Jetfire, out." *back to spinny*